Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis
The name denotes a point or angle of land, and as such may be appropriately applied to the Fort Hamilton tract, bounded probably by Dyker Heights Park on the south, and extending perhaps as far north as Yellow hook to meet the bounds of the home-lands of the Gouwanis chieftaincy. Through the heart of this district the old trail ran a crooked course, roughly approximating the line of 78th and 79th streets.
At Third avenue it probably later became the Van Brunt or Bennett lane, which extended to the shoreline at 78th street, but as to which there is no record of its having been a native trail. Throughout this favored region of broad uplands and attractive shore there is no recorded information on the existence of native settlements. There was a deed of November 22, 1652, by Seisen and Mattano to Cornells Van Werckhoven for New Utrecht land "stretching from behind Mr.
Paulus' land, called Gouwanis, across the hills to Mechawanienck, lying on the southeast side of Amersfoort and thence past Gravesend to the sea following the marks on the trees." This conveyance included all Bay Ridge and New Utrecht to the Gravesend line.